Cofund on Biotechnologies

Project Information

ERA CoBioTech

Grant agreement ID: 722361

DOI

10.3030/722361

Project closed

EC signature date 20 July 2016

Start date 1 December 2016

End date 30 November 2022

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Biotechnology

Total cost

€ 30 303 030,00

EU contribution

€ 9 999 999,24

Coordinated by

FORSCHUNGSZENTRUM JULICH GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ERA CoBioTech (Cofund on Biotechnologies)

Reporting period: 2018-03-01 to 2022-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Throughout the whole lifespan the ERA-Net “Cofund on BioTechnologies” (ERA CoBioTech) aimed to better use synergies between mechanisms of biotechnology research funding in Europe, to high-light the benefits of a bio-based economy for society, and to thus maintain and strengthen Europe’s global lead in modern biotechnology.

All ERA CoBioTech objectives to
- advance RD&I in industrial biotechnology
- establish systems and synthetic biology as technology drivers in applied biotechnology, and
- enhance the potential for exploitation through active industry involvement.
were reached.

ERA CoBioTech provided biotechnology stakeholders with tailor-made support regarding infor-mation, communication, networking and funding. From the very beginning of the project, ERA CoBi-oTech placed great emphasis on making the results of research and, above all, the social benefits of biotechnology (like improving food production or creating biofuels that aid in the reduction of green-house gas emissions) more publicly and widely understood.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Within the frame of the co-funded call ERA CoBioTech funded 22 research projects (funding volume of ~€mio 31). These projects focussed on application-oriented research in:

a) Synthetic biology approaches to design and construct new biological parts, devices and systems
b) Systems biology approaches to metabolic engineering and optimisation of biological processes
c) Identification and use of the metabolic potentials of genomic data
d) Chemical and biotechnological approaches to transform bio-based molecules into molecules with high added value.

All these projects were monitored closely including regular updates, reports (mid- and final reports) and meetings (kick-off-, midterm- and endterm project seminars/ERA CoBioTech Final meeting) in order to share knowledge, to interact and to network. Communication measures concerning the ERA-Net Cofund and its co-funded call projects were performed using both printed (brochure and factsheets) but mainly online based routes, like the website, twitter and online newsletters. More information on the co-funded call and details on the funded projects can be found here: https://www.cobiotech.eu/call-information.

ERA CoBioTech implemented two additional transnational calls - leading to 10 additional transna-tional research projects. All projects that emerged from ERA CoBioTech were presented in detail with their activities and (interim) results on the ERA CoBioTech homepage and thus were made available to the general public (including project abstracts, information on social media contacts, links to the projects´ homepages, project brochures and the projects´ presentations during the status seminar in 2021).

Several webinars were organized in order to provide researchers and research projects with up-to-date, practical knowledge like „IP management for biotechnology“, "Technology-based entrepre-neurship: launching new technologies into markets and society" and "EU projects communication, focusing on audio-visual creation and social media campaigns“ incl. training on video-editing tools and a webinar on “policy brief writing”.

The “European Biotechnology Hub meetings” were organized on a regular base reaching out to rele-vant key actors and stakeholders from multiple biotechnology-related areas.
In addition, ERA CoBioTech succeeded in developing a detailed and meaningful Strategic Innova-tion and Research Agenda, laid down a policy brief, conducted a video contest and organized a se-ries of workshops on stakeholder engagement.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Bundling the three predecessor ERA-Nets in the area of biotechnology (ERASysAPP, ERA IB and ERASynBio), ERA CoBioTech significantly increased public funding and intensified collaboration across relevant sectors and countries.

A joint strategic agenda and shared vision was developed: Those areas where synthetic biology, systems biology and industrial biotechnology could be aligned to have the most impact were identified: This approach ensured advanced research and innovation in industrial biotechnology and the establishment of systems biology and synthetic biology as technology drivers; the potential for industrial exploitation was enhanced.

With the “European Biotechnology Hub”, ERA CoBioTech realised an entirely new concept, reach-ing out to key actors and stakeholders from multiple biotechnology-related areas. Based on this reg-ular standing event, ERA CoBioTech contributed to aligning different European strategic instruments with the goals of the KET biotechnology programme under Horizon 2020 and to increasing public awareness of biotechnology´s usefulness.

Beside the co-funded call ERA CoBioTech also implemented additional funding activities (without EC co-funding) being in line with the Strategic Agenda and the outcomes of the "European Biotech-nology Hub." Recognizing the researcher`s needs for additional skills next to mere scientific educa-tion ERA CoBioTech organised workshops on stakeholder engagement - dealing with "communica-tion for impact" and “RRI”. Next to providing useful knowledge and tools, these workshops also build a bridge between the various stakeholders.

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